You are here

Ex-prisoner shot dead while liming

Just a month after being released from prison, a Marabella labourer was killed execution-style while liming outside his friend’s home on Monday night The murder of 24-year-old father of two Sylvester Anoop took the murder toll to 200 in just six-and-a-half months. Police said Anoop, of Riverside Road, was sitting on the roadside at the nearby Jack Street with his sister. Around 10.45 pm a car drove by and one of the occupants opened the window and fired several shots at him.

His sister escaped the gunfire and those around ran for cover. After a few minutes, his friends went looking for him and found him lying on the ground bleeding from the head and chest. Anoop died at the scene before an ambulance and police, including Insp Gaffar, Insp Mohammed and Sgt Mc Intosh, arrived. Marabella police patrolled the area, searching for possible suspects but up to late yesterday, no one had been arrested.

No clear motive was established but police believe it was a revenge killing linked to his criminal past. An autopsy by forensic pathologist Dr Valery Alexandrov showed Anoop had been shot four times in the abdomen, chest and head with what appeared to be .38 calibre, copper-jacketed, hollow-point rounds. Alexandrov said the killer made every effort to kill Anoop. He explained that the gunman shot Anoop in the right side of the abdomen and as he turned and crouched to protect himself, he was shot in the chest.

He was again shot in the stomach and after running a short distance, he collapsed. The gunman stood over him and fired another shot to the back of the head. When the T&T Guardian visited the community yesterday, those close to him refused to speak. At his home, a woman said none of his relatives were there. At the house where Anoop was shot, his friends also declined comment and a woman who was said to be his girlfriend also refused to speak.

Police described Anoop as a “pest” with a long criminal record who had matters pending before the court and had been convicted of assault in the past. In May 2012, three weeks after Anoop was released from prison, he was again sentenced to 12 months by Deputy Chief Magistrate Rajendra Rambachan for cuffing contractor Martin Thomas in the face, fracturing his eye socket.